Djokovic to defend Australian Open title without `official preparation`

Sydney – Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic has said that he will attempt to win his fifth Australian Open title without an official match under his belt in eight weeks.

The world number two has returned to play in this week’s six-man exhibition event in Abu Dhabi – his first competition since winning both of his singles matches in Serbia’s Davis Cup final loss to Czech Republic in mid-November.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Djokovic, who also won the Australian Open in 2008, said that he would be attempting to win the Open for a fourth straight year from January 13, adding that his first tournament is going to be the UAE exhibition and the first official one is going to be in Melbourne.

Djokovic further said that he is not going to play in the opening weeks of the season because he feels that he did not have enough time to get himself in the right shape for competition mode, for which he has opted to play only in the few matches in UAE and then start on to Melbourne to prepare for the Open.

The Australian Open will also be Djokovic’s first grand slam since adding Boris Becker to his coaching staff, whom Djokovic believes an help both technically on court as well mentally in his preparation for events, although he insisted that there will be no radical overhaul.

Djokovic had a disappointing 2013 by his own high standards as he won the Australian Open but lost to Rafael Nadal in the French Open semi-finals and again in the US Open final, as well as losing to Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final, the report added.